Zebra Mussel Colouring and Activity Book

saskatchewan.ca/invasive-species

Have you ever heard of zebra mussels?

They're not zebras and they're not "muscles", but this creature is called a zebra mussel.

Not me!

Or me!

That would be me!

2

Adult zebra mussels are small --about the size of a sesame seed, and grow to the size of an adult’s thumbnail. They have a hard shell that usually has stripes, and they're very tough, so the name suits them.

Zebra mussels live in freshwater. Look at the drawing above. See those little threads? Those are called byssal (bis-al) threads. These threads are like really strong glue. That's how zebra mussels attach to things in the water such as rocks, boats, even your toys.

If you had byssal threads, what would you want to stick to?

3

D S A S K A T C H E W A N W I G G L U E A L B H U Q D Y Z E X Q T N E M N O R I V N E D J W S B K L N C Y H Q K Q E E B C E C Q F X S T F M K D S Y T I Q Y G R X V E P Z A N S Y T J K N E C P Z Z P V J S I M K I B D F P Q Z L N I A S E F I N A T I V E M I K L R H I K J R V R K B E O L P D M T Z H E Q H E R Z E B R A M U S S E L I O V W E E X W P Y B I G M I F U I O L J C R L E L A K E B K W R R W B B X F V H V J S X K V B Z H S I F Z Z E B C N W

ZEBRA MUSSEL

NATIVE

ENVIRONMENT

STRIPES

LAKE

GLUE

BYSSAL

RIVER

INVADED

SASKATCHEWAN

FISH

Zebra mussels are not "native" to Saskatchewan's lakes and rivers. That means they're not a natural part of our environment. Zebra mussels have not invaded our waters yet, and practicing CLEAN, DRAIN and DRY is a good way to keep them out.

Word Search

4

Zebra mussels love catching rides. To get to Canada, they caught rides on large ships that came from across the ocean. They began to settle in the Great Lakes. Their families started to grow quickly. An adult female zebra mussel can produce up to one million eggs each year! Can you imagine if you had that many brothers and sisters?

How did they get here?

5

1. Adult zebra mussels can survive out of water for a long time – up to 30 days! Once adult zebra mussels die, they're really smelly – worse than your brother's, sister's or best friend's smelliest pair of socks! Who wants to play on the beach if there are smelly zebra mussels everywhere?

2. Their shells have very sharp edges. If you're playing in the sand or walking bare foot in the water and there are dead zebra mussels on the shore, you might cut your feet.

3. They eat a lot of plankton in the water. Plankton are super teeny plants and animals that float in the water. Fish also eat plankton. With less plankton for the fish to eat, there will be fewer fish. This will make it harder to catch a fish when you go fishing.

Are zebra mussels bad?Sadly, they are. They're bad because:

6

Maze GameGet from one end to the other without stepping on a zebra mussel.

7

Yes! When zebra mussels are born, they're so small, you can't even see them. Baby zebra mussels, called "veligers" (vel-li-jerz), love floating in water. So before you leave the lake or the river, make sure you Clean, Drain, Dry and Dispose.

CLEAN – if there's any grass or seaweed stuck to your toys, remove it.DRAIN – dump all the water out of your toys. DRY – ask your mom or dad for an old towel or rag so you can dry off your toys. DISPOSE – after cleaning, draining and drying your toys, throw the material into the garbage where it cannot get into a lake or river.

Veligers are so tiny, there could be a hundred of them in a single drop of water.

Can we do anything to stop zebra mussels from invading all our lakes and rivers?

8

Spot the differenceThere are six differences between these two pictures.

9

Clean, drain and dry everything you use or play with in the water. Can you unscramble the words below to identify some things used in the water?

Word Scramble

a o t b

h i s g i f n d o r

l o p o e o d o n l

o g s g e g l

a h b c e a l l b

10

(hint: the answers are found in this booklet.)

Choose the correct word andfill in the blank.

Adult zebra _____________ (muscles / mussels) usually have

_____________ (stripes / strips), which is what gives them

their name. They're very small, but their byssal threads make

them quite _____________ (strange / strong) and allow them

to stick to things in the water.

Baby zebra mussels are called _____________ (villages /

veligers). They're so _____________ (smiley / small) that

humans can't see them. Zebra mussels are bad for our lakes

and rivers because they eat lots of _____________

(planks / plankton) and there's little food left for the fish.

They also wash onto the shore and _____________ (die / dye).

That's bad because they're very _____________ (smelly /

smiley) and have _____________ (sharp / shape) edges that

can cut your feet.

If we want to stop zebra mussels from invading our lakes and

rivers, we must clean, _____________ (drone / drain) and dry

everything we used in the water that day.11

Crossword PuzzleAcross: 3. The third thing you should do when you take your toys out of the water. 4. Pee-eww. Dead zebra mussels ___________________.5. Zebra mussels hitched a ride on these to come to Canada. 6. What's the first thing you should do when you take your toys out of the

lake?7. This feature of a ZEBRA mussel is one reason it isn't called a DOT mussel. Down: 1. What's the second thing you should do when you take your toys out of the

water? 2. It's as sticky as glue.

2

3

4

1

5

6

7

12

Draw a picture of your favouritething to do at the beach.

13

Check your answers.

Word Search, page 4

Maze Game, page 7 Spot the Difference, page 914

Word Scramble, page 10

Crossword Puzzle, page 12

boat, fishing rod, pool noodle, goggles, beach ball

Fill in the Blanks, page 11

musselsstripesstrongveligerssmall

planktondiesmellysharpdrain

15

2

3

4

1

5

6

7

DRAIN

BYSSALTHREADS

S T EI P S

NE AC

H I PS

D RN KT

For more information on zebra mussels, visit saskatchewan.ca/invasive-species

Protect our watersCLEAN + DRAIN + DRY YOUR BOAT